//------------------------------// // A Shredded Piece // Story: Foaling With Reality // by Zubric //------------------------------// Rarity trotted towards Twilight’s castle, a happy Blueblood sitting on her back. The visit at the doctors had taken forever, but well worth it to relieve her concerns about her precious foal. In her saddlebag sat a few folders of medical paperwork, most of which eluded her ability to comprehend. The doctor’s surprise and baffled reaction to what he had found out had gotten her curious. Although, even when she asked the doctor to explain to her in terms she could understand the situation at hoof, her head still spun. She was a fashion designer after all, not a medical pony, and, no matter how many medical scriptures she had read in the past as teenager, her comprehension was far from perfect, since she was mostly concerned with measurements of the pony external body and mathematics. Light jingling was heard from her other saddle bag. Inside were a few teas and other such goodies for tea time. She wasn’t that late, so she was sure Twilight wouldn't mind it. Without hesitation, she pushed the front door of the castle, and walked in. “Sorry I’m late Twilight, I had to take Blueblood to the…” She took a quick look around, and to her surprise, spotted not only Twilight and Fluttershy, but also Pumpkin and associated foals. “Oh the gang’s all here. Imagine that. Did something important happen?” Fluttershy looked at Rarity with a look of concern and confusing, her eyes focusing more on the foal on her back rather than at her. Cheerilee stared the same confused expression, albeit slightly less “mother bear” looking. Twilight held her hoof to her horn, looking like her head was about to crack open, Pumpkin sighed, “Yes, something important happened. It’s about our foals.” Rarity blinked turning her neck to look back at Blueblood. The foal smiled a bit, though she figured it was mostly from his candy. “What about them?” She asked, her curiosity intensified by the medical documents she carried. Twilight took a moment to breath before explaining, “In short: apparently, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinkie Pie and maybe Trixie are not foals. We got this conclusion because Applejack and Pinkie Pie could write, while Rainbow actually ran away from home.” Pumpkin looked at Trixie for a moment and added “Oh, and apparently Trixie used the toilet all alone.” “So did anything strange happen with Blueblood today?” She asked, as she looked over the notes that Spike dictated moments prior. Rarity looked at the ceiling for a brief second, before answering. “Well, I brought Bluey to the doctor’s office today after he fell off the bed…” “Was he hurt?” Fluttershy asked “No, in fact he seemed unfazed by the fall, which is why I took him to the doctor in the first place.” “I see… do go on.” Twilight said writing few notes on the wheeled chalkboard she had brought out before. “Well, the doctor found some odd findings. I can’t really explain it all myself but I brought a copy of the results, hoping you could help me get a clue as to what the doctor was talking about. I mean he explained it to me, but he was fast and word-eating, that I’m still lost.” “Why doesn’t everypony think I know all the answers in the world?” Twilight said, exasperated. “Did I say something wrong?” Rarity said, taken back by the remark. “No, no just... a little on edge sorry due all of this happening at once.” she replied. Rarity pulled out the folders setting it down on the coffee table, along with the cans of tea she had brought... Twilight took one of the orange folders and, delicately opening it, she brought the X-ray film to the light, making “Hmm” sounds, as her eyes squinted in interest, and she kept changing angles to give a different visual. Then she gave her response. “I don’t see anything, aside from the skull of Blueblood and an aura of his brain. Do you have anything else to show?” The other adults and foals idly watch the proceedings. Rarity nodded, as she took out a light blue box closed with a little cord. “Yes, there it is. Brain scans.” Twilight quickly nodded her head. “Okay, okay, this should give me more information.” she said, lifting three sheets out of the case. The page, to anyone without the working knowhow of scans, would see a bunch of bloats of colour and random lines. Naturally, Twilight knew by experience how to read them. Twilight analyzed the images carefully for a while, not making a sound, tensing everypony up. After a few silent minutes, she nodded her head “Well this is fascinating. Papez’s circuit does not match a foal’s; the Hippocampus is unusually large for his age, and... ” She kept going on for a while with complex medical speech and terms. “Uh, mind speaking Equestrian Twilight, because I think you broke Fluttershy.” Pumpkin stated, as she waved a hoof in front of Fluttershy, her face frozen in shock. Twilight sighed. “Sorry, what it all means is that they have, somehow, literal adult brain, which we already knew. However, some parts, like the one controlling their muscles, seemingly have the size proportional to their bodies’ ages.” Cheerilee looked at Applejack, and Fluttershy almost strangled Rainbow Dash in a hug. “And that’s it? Well, this is a relief,” Cheerilee said, “at least we know that they are just anomalies.” the teacher pony smiled weakly “Also, that will eliminate a lot of problems for my parenting.” Fluttershy looked at Cheerilee in disbelief. “A-and l-let her l-live kn-nowing s-s-she isn’t like the r-rest?” “Girls I know it sounds amazing, or awful, but even if that were the case, stuff like that can’t just happen overnight! Not to mention the miss matched memories. It’s almost like…” she paused, pondering for a few moments “Granted it just a theory based on what we know.” “Well spit it out.” Cheerilee said, waving her hoof in small circles. “Well I'm not sure, but maybe, just maybe, they have some other pony inside their heads at the moment.” “Huh? Isn’t that what we found out already?” Pumpkin asked. “Let me rephrase, I meant a different consciousness, at least that would explain the extra memories though why they altered from what actually happened is peculiar. “ Rarity set Blueblood down, as went in the kitchen for make the tea. This was all quite sudden, and it took a decent toll on her nerves. “Rarity, do you happen to have any more medical documentation with you?” Twilight said. “Everything is on the table, Twilight.” Rarity stated, as she turned the stove on, and filled the teapot with some water from the rainwater basin. As she did that, Rarity thought about the situation at hand, and if Blueblood was, indeed, part of the whole thing. That would explain his behaviour during the... unfortunate diaper change and breakfast. However, that also implied Blueblood’s actual mind disappearing somewhere, like in a bad sci-fi movie that traumatized Sweetie Belle when she was younger. That then begged the question: if these ponies were in their foals, where did their foals end up? As Rarity watch the water come to a boil, and dropped some leaves for the green tea, the sound of Twilight rustling through the papers was heard from the other room. There was also the faint giggling of Pinkie, thought it was not possible to tell why she was giggling, especially in a situation like that. Cheerilee came into the kitchen a few moments later “Where are those soft peanut butter cookies? I think that Pinkie has the munchies again.” “Oh, is this it?” Rarity asked, levitating over a small red box out from a drawer to Cheerilee. “I think so, thanks. How is the tea coming?” she asked, putting the box on her back. “It's almost done. I must say this had been one hectic day.” “Well can’t get any worse than a stink bomb, that is for sure.” Then, all of sudden, a scream that could only express the pure joy or a revelation came from the main room. “Ekkalupsa!” Rarity snapped her head around towards the shout, while Cheerilee ran back to the main room, saying. “What is going on?” “I... Finally... Understood!” Twilight declared revelation. “Understood what?” Cheerilee said “It must be very important, because you said it so loud, that Fluttershy peed herself!” “D-did not” Fluttershy blushed “Well my theory about different consciousness was true, but here’s the issue, they are in a different world altogether.” “Wait, what? How you even come to that conclusion?” Cheerilee asked as Rarity came out with the tray of tea. “Well, it all adds up see.” she pointed to the chalkboard, little pictures drawn up. “First of all, there is a lingering magical force with a unique pattern of sorts. Now considering the foals have adult minds it only concludes that through some means our foals and them got swapped. I’m just not sure how.” “Swapped?” Fluttershy hugged Dash close again, while the little pegasus kept wincing at the smell of urine soaking into her now diapered rump, followed by whining. “Yes, swapped, it has a similar signature to body swap spells, though there something off about it at the same time.” Twilight rubbed her chin in thought “It’s like… the swapping was random, and made with crude magical ability. One possessed by…” Twilight’s face radiated with light. “Discord!” “What, h-he wouldn’t do something l-like that to our foal...” Fluttershy said “W-would he?” “Knowing he’s idea of fun... who knows.” Suddenly Discord stepped out from behind a lamp, somehow hidden this whole time “Did somepony say my name?” “Ugh. Discord what did I tell you about eavesdropping?” Fluttershy scolded her husband. “To not to, I think.” he teased back with his usual sarcastic tone. Rarity had an idea, and, after putting the tea down, she said. “Anyway, Discord, are you able to let us travel, or, at very least, watch over other dimensions? It would very useful right now.” Discord started to coil around Rarity’s chest. “Well I can view different dimensions, travel is a pain, since there is always a blue telephone box trying to hit you, but that’s beside the point now, isn’t it?” “Great! So... can you find our foals?” Twilight asked looking over at Trixie, who yet again, seemed unnerved and rather twitchy. “Hmm, yes I suppose I can lock onto the dimension they are in.” He picked up the nearest foal, who just happens to be Trixie. He licked his finger, and touched her forehead. Done that, he put his thumb in his mouth and tasted it. His eyes went wide, his jaw dropping a bit. “Ohhh... oohh dear. Twilight...you have this all wrong...” “What are you talking about?” Twilight asked, raising her eyebrow. “Well, it’s not so much swapped bodies as changed reality, kind of like swapping vanilla to chocolate ice cream.” “W-wait are you saying?” Fluttershy asked, gulping. Discord sighed, looking over at his dear wife and their foal. “My dearest Fluttershy, none of this is how it should be. The way things should be is how the foals remember them. You might even say that what we remember is a lie.” Cheerilee shook her head “I won’t believe that my relationship was all an error, it just can’t be.” she stomped her hoof on the ground defensively. “I truly am sorry Cheerilee, but it’s true. It’s why we’ve all been having those headaches. Part of us remembers how things as they were and the other half remembers this reality. They clash with each other and well you know the results.” He took a moment to look at Twilight “I do apologize for your current earth splitting headache, access all those real memories must be a toll.” “I'm fine really.” She replied blinking a few times “Though if that is the case, how did this happen?” “Well now that my memories have returned, I’ll gladly answer that.” He said, clearing his throat. “I was rather bored and decided to go have some fun with Pinkie. She was telling the twins here a story and I decided to play a prank. Only Pumpkin’s magic flared up and the two collided and things get all warm and fuzzy after that.” “Fascinating, so a foal’s magic surge collided with your chaotic brand of magic caused all of reality to change. Never knew it was that powerful.” “Well you know the power of imagination is endless after all” Discord shrugs “Surprised it even worked on me to be honest.” “So you didn’t feel things were fishy at all this whole time?” Pumpkin asked once more staring the foals now sitting in a neat row listening. “Well, the inside of my head is chaotic enough as it is my dear Pumpkin.” He replied, pulling a small fish out of his ear, and tossing it away on the wooden floor. Rarity took another look at Blueblood, who still seemed uninterested in his situation. “So, in reality, none of us have foals?” She asked, “I guess that makes sense, I have a hard enough time being a good sister to Sweetie Belle, so why would I adopt?” “ Just a second, Rarity.” Discord said, poking each of the foals in the head. “There that should allow them to speak now.” “Thank goodness, I can’t handle anymore bear hugs from Shy” Rainbow blurted out. Fluttershy was about to hug her again but stopped herself “Oh hehe, sorry I get carried away a lot.” “Okay, good we can communicate again, now what?” Applejack asked, crossing her hooves. “Are you really such a simpleton?” Blueblood asked, scuffing. “We change everything back to normal!” “Ugh, is every word out of your mouth whining!” Dash said shoving him. “Seriously, you give Rarity a run for her money.” A soft voice spoke up, taking everyone off guard. “Uh, Trixie has something to say.” “Yes? What is it Trixie?” Twilight asked, smiling down at the foal. “Trixie...I...want to remain.” she said looking down, not meeting their eyes, unable to look at them “What do you mean?” Twilight asked sitting down looking into the eyes of her foal. “I don’t want to go back!” she shouted, tears going down her face. Twilight hugged her slowly rubbing her back “Shhh, we can figure this out.” Pinkie quickly came up, joined the hug “Oh, I hate seeing somepony sad.” Rainbow and Applejack join the group hug. Trixie seemed to calm down some, though she was still sniffling. “I don't want to go... mommy.”